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NDBM_File(3pm)                        Perl Programmers Reference Guide                        NDBM_File(3pm)



NAME
       NDBM_File - Tied access to ndbm files

SYNOPSIS
         use Fcntl;   # For O_RDWR, O_CREAT, etc.
         use NDBM_File;

         tie(%h, 'NDBM_File', 'filename', O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0666)
           or die "Couldn't tie NDBM file 'filename': $!; aborting";

         # Now read and change the hash
         $h{newkey} = newvalue;
         print $h{oldkey};
         ...

         untie %h;

DESCRIPTION
       "NDBM_File" establishes a connection between a Perl hash variable and a file in NDBM_File format;.
       You can manipulate the data in the file just as if it were in a Perl hash, but when your program
       exits, the data will remain in the file, to be used the next time your program runs.

       Use "NDBM_File" with the Perl built-in "tie" function to establish the connection between the vari-able variable
       able and the file.  The arguments to "tie" should be:

       1.  The hash variable you want to tie.

       2.  The string "NDBM_File".  (Ths tells Perl to use the "NDBM_File" package to perform the functions
           of the hash.)

       3.  The name of the file you want to tie to the hash.

       4.  Flags.  Use one of:

           "O_RDONLY"
             Read-only access to the data in the file.

           "O_WRONLY"
             Write-only access to the data in the file.

           "O_RDWR"
             Both read and write access.

           If you want to create the file if it does not exist, add "O_CREAT" to any of these, as in the
           example.  If you omit "O_CREAT" and the file does not already exist, the "tie" call will fail.

       5.  The default permissions to use if a new file is created.  The actual permissions will be modified
           by the user's umask, so you should probably use 0666 here. (See "umask" in perlfunc.)

DIAGNOSTICS
       On failure, the "tie" call returns an undefined value and probably sets $! to contain the reason the
       file could not be tied.

       "ndbm store returned -1, errno 22, key "..." at ..."

       This warning is emitted when you try to store a key or a value that is too long.  It means that the
       change was not recorded in the database.  See BUGS AND WARNINGS below.

BUGS AND WARNINGS
       There are a number of limits on the size of the data that you can store in the NDBM file.  The most
       important is that the length of a key, plus the length of its associated value, may not exceed 1008
       bytes.

       See "tie" in perlfunc, perldbmfilter, Fcntl



perl v5.8.8                                      2001-09-21                                   NDBM_File(3pm)